About your teacher
Hi, I’m Berend. I’m a 5 star Dutch teacher working with international professionals and expat partners across the Netherlands.
I specialise in one – to – one language training. Over the past eight years, I’ve worked with people from tons of different backgrounds — from complete beginners to advanced speakers — each with their own goals and reasons for learning Dutch.
For the past seven years I have been the language trainer at Tower Research Capital, a trading firm in Amsterdam Zuidoost, where I also coordinated their language programme.
I also help students prepare for the inburgering exam — often with a residence permit depending on it — so if that’s part of your situation, it’s familiar ground.
My story
Language has been a constant thread through everything I’ve done — I wrote prose as a teenager, studied Dutch literature in my twenties, and trained at the Royal Academy for Performing Arts in Antwerp. Being in front of people and knowing how to connect has always been part of how I work.
At 30, I did my CELTA teacher training in Amsterdam, and teaching turned out to fit — I have been passionate about teaching ever since.
Why my lessons work
Lessons often end up being about more than grammar. Students frequently mention that the conversation itself — the attention, the tone, actually being listened to — helps them focus in a way they didn’t expect from a language class. My way of working with people (and that super important encouraging aspect) helps them progress at a faster pace.
Helping someone notice the progress they’re already making is the most incredible and wonderful tool!
My method: ‘building blocks in the swamp’
Dutch can feel like a swamp when you’re starting out — endless surface area, but nowhere solid to stand on. So rather than trying to cover everything at once, I focus on a set of solid building blocks : a handful of grammar points and structures, properly understood and, by lots of repetition, stored in your memory.
It’s a bit like wooden posts across a playground — there’s still a lot of open space around them, but at least there’s a way across.
I give students enough of those posts to build that path. Over time these posts grow into a much, much, deeper feel for the language, because they’ve got something stable to fall back on – you are no longer in a swamp of unfamiliar Dutch.
What I believe about learning a language with AI
Progress in a language depends on feedback a real person, and genuine connection with that person — not just repetition or an app tracking a streak.
That’s is an unmistakable advantage of face to face lessons: learning sticks when someone is paying attention to you.
I completely understand the appeal of learning with AI — it’s cheap, and it can map out a perfectly structured course in seconds. But in practice, it doesn’t really work.
Why?
Because what AI can’t do is notice the moment you get stuck, read your hesitation, or sense when something needs explaining differently. That kind of in-the-moment adjustment only comes from someone actually watching and listening as you work.
Also, there is the motivation aspect – a Tuesday 3pm with a chat bot can easily become a rushed five minutes after Sunday breakfast.
A scheduled appointment with a teacher is something you actually have to show up for.
10+
years experience
390+
students taught
9 – 10
average rating
Let’s start with a chat
Every course starts with a personal intake — we talk through where you’re starting from, what you actually need Dutch for, and what lessons should look like.
My aim is to help you move from overwhelm and frustration to actually using Dutch!